


Where Dreams Can Play

by Polarnacht



Series: Rare Pair [5]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Bittersweet, Bittersweet Ending, Childhood, Childhood Friends, First Crush, Ghost Max Lightwood, Ghosts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:35:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24126742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polarnacht/pseuds/Polarnacht
Summary: Madzie hates being in the Institute with her adoptive mother Catarina. She has bad memories of that place and mostly it is just boring. This changes when she meets Max Lightwood, Alec’s and Izzy’s younger brother who is supposed to be dead…A story about growing up in the Shadow World, friendship and a first crush.
Relationships: Madzie/Max Lightwood
Series: Rare Pair [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1733230
Comments: 13
Kudos: 16
Collections: Shadowhunters Challenges - Rare Pairs





	Where Dreams Can Play

**Author's Note:**

> Written for: Shadowhunters Challenges - Rare Pairs

Where Dreams Can Play

Madzie hated being in the Institute with her adoptive mother Catarina. She had really bad memories of that place, she had hurt many people there. She was even sure that she had killed someone, though no one told her that right to her face. She somehow still struggled with the whole concept of life and death anyway. She just couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that one person just could cease to exist from one moment to the other. Of course she knew that it happened - her mother was dead. But as she had never met her, she didn’t miss her that much. She missed her Nana, though she was not supposed to miss her, as she was a bad woman. Whatever that meant.

She was glad that she had not hurt Alec. She liked Alec, he was one of the few adults next to Catarina she trusted. He had always been nice to her, even at the beginning when he hadn’t gained anything out of it. She was glad that she had pushed him into the elevator with her magic before the bad things had happened. She was glad he was alive.

She liked it when Alec was around when she visited the Institute, but often he was out on a mission or had important things to do, as he was the boss of the Institute. She didn’t really understand what was so important about the documents he filled out so dutifully, but she had accepted that whenever Alec was in his office, he was not to be disturbed.

When Alec was busy, she sought out Jace. Jace was nice, not as nice as Alec but he was ok. At least he understood that she missed her Nana. Jace had told her that he missed his father sometimes, even though he had been a really bad man, the bad man who had made her do bad things. She wondered if this made her a bad girl, too.

Sometimes neither Jace nor Alec had time for her. These were the worst days. She didn’t like the Infirmary, where the wounded were treated and her mother worked. Catarina was a medical consultant, whenever the Silent Brothers didn’t succeed with their healing methods, Catarina was called to help. And each time, Madzie had to come with her, though she was already 8-years-old and definitely old enough to stay at home alone. Just because she had summoned a little pony into their apartment once and the pony had made a huge mess, she was no longer permitted to stay alone. It had been only once! She still pouted a little whenever this came up.

***

Today was one of the boring days, Alec and Jace were out on a mission and Catarina was busy in the Infirmary. There had been a demon attack and several Shadowhunters were wounded. This would take hours as Madzie knew from experience. Madzie sighed. What a waste of her time. She could be home, watching TV or something like that. The Institute didn’t even have a telly. Sighing again, she decided it was time for a little adventure. She had never been to the dungeons of the Institute, yet she knew that the cells for the prisoners were there. An excited shiver ran down her spine when she sneaked away, heading towards the stairways that led to the cellar. She knew she was not permitted to go down there, but this made it just the better.

She hummed lightly while running down the stairs, the last step always jumping down. The stairs led to a huge corridor with several doors, most just leading to storage rooms. The door to the dungeons was huge, several heavy locks indicating that it was forbidden to go further. But a few locks couldn’t stop Madzie, she was a warlock, and a highly gifted one at that. With a twist of her wrist the locks sprang open. She pushed the door carefully open, the creaking of the door sending another shiver down her back. She stepped through. There was another corridor ahead of her, lit only by a few torches.

“What are you doing here?” the voice behind her made Madzie jump. She turned around to see an unfamiliar boy standing in front of her. She gulped and felt herself blush a little – because she got caught but also because of the piercing gray eyes, which looked like the sea after a storm. Later she would deny to have shrieked, shrieking was for silly mundane girls and not for capable warlocks like her.

But she recovered quickly.

“The better question is: what are you doing here? How did you get here? And who are you anyway?”

The boy laughed. “Many questions for a little girl, uh?”

Madzie stomped her feet. “I am not a little girl. I am 8.”

“Well, I am 9. Nearly ten.” He sounded self-important, putting emphasize on the ten. Ten was something special. Being two-digits-old was… but he sighed. He would never be ten, not really anyway.

“You look a lot like Alec. Do you know him?” Madzie interrupted his thoughts.

He rolled his eyes and if his prominent chin, his messy brown hair and his huge hands had not given it away already, the eye-roll clearly would have. He was a Lightwood.

“I’m Max. I’m his little brother.”

Madzie sucked in a breath. She knew that Alec had had a brother, but she also knew that he was dead. Murdered by Jonathan Morgenstern, the true son of Valentine, the bad man Jace still missed.

“You’re a ghost,” she whispered. She had heard of ghosts, of course she had. But she had never seen one before.

Max sighed again. “Yes I am. I got bored at Lightwood manor where I am normally located, but there are only so few people visiting there. So I just slipped through the portal together with my siblings the last time they stepped by. Normally ghosts are bound to the place where they die, but apparently I can travel between these two places,“ he added, his voice full of importance.

“So why are you a ghost?”

Max shrugged. “I was not ready to move on. I wanted so badly to be a real Shadowhunter, to have my runing ceremony and go into battle with Jace, Alec and Izzy. But now they don’t even see me. At least not Izzy or Alec. Jace never came by so far. I have a year to decide if I want to stay a ghost.”

Madzie nodded. Though she didn’t really understand the concept of dying, she was glad she was alive.

She clapped her hands. “Then we are both kind of trapped here. I’m Madzie, by the way. I can do magic and you are invisible to most. That sounds like fun,” she exclaimed gleefully. 

They skipped exploring the dungeons for that day, instead they strolled upwards. In the kitchen they found their first victim.

Izzy was preparing dessert, a mousse au chocolat. Unseen by Izzy, her little brother exchanged the sugar with salt. Both kids couldn’t stop laughing when she tried the mousse in the end and nearly gagged, the disgust clearly written all over her face.

Too soon the day ended and Madzie heard Catarina calling her name. Madzie was breathless, she hadn’t laughed that much in days or weeks. Max also looked flushed, as much as a ghost could look flushed.

“Will we see us the next time I’m here?”

“Of course we will. We are friends now, aren’t we?”

Madzie blushed a little, but nodded feverishly. Friends.

***

The next time Catarina had to go to the Institute, Madzie was ready in an instant. Instead of pouting or trying to convince her mother to let her stay alone at home, she just put on her favorite dress, grabbed some toys and stood ready by the door. Catarina raised a questioning eyebrow, but didn’t say anything about it.

As soon as they entered the Institute, Madzie was off running, not saying where to but clearly on a mission.

***

“I think Madzie has a crush” Catarina announced a couple of weeks later. Alec nearly choked on his coffee.

“What? She is just a kid.”

“Yes she is. And kids have crushes. Actually, Raphael told me about a certain young Shadowhunter having a crush on him once...” She winked at Alec, who turned away to hide the blush coloring his cheeks.

“She used to complain a lot about having to come to the Institute with me, but now every time we go she puts on her favorite clothes and when we head home she is always unwilling to leave but so happy.”

Alec frowned at her. “But who could it be? There are barely other kids around.”

“Well, Andrew has started to bring his twins. Maybe one of them?”

The Shadowhunter nodded slowly. That was possible. Andrew and his boyfriend had adopted two cute girls who were slightly older, around 12, and just had started their training at the Institute.

***

Madzie was excited. Catarina had gifted her a friendship journal a couple of months back and so far, she never had had a real friend to fill it out. But now she had Max. She was especially curious to learn the answer to one particular question: _When you think of me, what comes to your mind?_ Underneath were a football, flowers, a sun, a tennis racket and a heart displayed. She really hoped Max would pick the heart.

She hummed lightly when she stepped up the few stairs to the Institute. There had been another attack and Catarina and she were likely to spend the whole day at the Institute. Best premise for a great day.

She found Max in their usual spot, an abandoned storage room near the dungeons. Heating pipes made the room warm and cozy for Madzie and she had summoned a couch, a chair and a table, so it looked more like a children’s room than an actual storage room. She liked it a lot there.

As soon as she had found him, she started to chat animatedly, telling Max about this and that, hiding her nervousness about the journal behind a constant stream of words.

“What are you hiding in your backpack?” Max cut in, clearly aware that there was something going on. He had been unusually silent the whole time.

“Uh, it’s nothing,” Madzie stammered. “Well, it’s a slam book. Would you like to fill it out?”

Max smiled and nodded, holding out his hand to her.

“Of course Mads. Oh, I am the first to enter,” he added when he saw that the book was completely untouched. Madzie nodded shyly. She had brought a pen with her and handed it to her friend.

She bit her lip and had to restrain herself from peeking over his shoulder while he seriously read the questions in the book, thought about them and answered them.

_Please pick the heart._

A small frown had settled on his face. Absentmindedly he chewed on his inner cheek, fidgeting with the pen.

“I cannot answer this one question.” He sounded sad, sadder then a boy of 9 years should sound.

“Oh, which one?” She looked up and finally couldn’t hold herself back any longer and looked over his shoulder. Her heart skipped a beat. He had chosen the heart. But he was not tapping on this question, it was another one he was struggling with.

_This is what I want to be when I’m big._

Madzie cursed inwardly. Max would never be big. He would stay 9 years old forever. She had not thought of that, she had been too excited to finally have a friend. And about the heart question.

“I was thinking about that a lot lately, Mads. When I died, I was not ready to leave this world. And now I have found you. You are the best friend in the whole world. But you will grow older. One day you will move away, you will be an adult. And I just will stay 9. I don’t think I want that. I think I want to move on, see what is waiting for me.”

“You don’t want to leave because you think I am a bad girl?”

“No, Mads, why would you even say that, silly. You are a good girl to whom bad things have happened. I meant what I said. You are the best friend I could wish for. This is… only about me.”

Madzie’s lip trembled lightly. But she understood. She had learned many tough lessons in her young life so far. It seemed one was due today. Sometimes friendship meant to let go, to support the other to move on. No matter how much you wished otherwise.

“I will not go immediately, Mads. I want to spend as much time as I can with you. I have a few more months till I have to go. And I have something for you.” He blushed slightly when he reached into his pocket and pulled out the little wooden toy soldier he always carried with him. It was the toy soldier Jace had gifted him so many years back and it had been his favorite toy ever since, Jace being his hero from early childhood on. It was also the toy soldier he had held in his hands when he had died, providing him at least a bit of comfort.

“Are you sure?” Madzie looked at the gift in awe. She had always loved this toy.

“Of course I am. You are my best friend.”

“And you are mine.” They hugged shyly, briefly. Their first hug. They swayed lightly and nearly fell, making both of them laugh. And just like that, the serious atmosphere shifted and they were both giggling.

“I’ve heard Izzy is trying to cook again. Shall we have a look?” A mischievous gleam had settled in Max’ eyes.

Madzie giggled again. “I think we will do more than just look.”

Hand in hand they run up the stairs, heading towards the kitchen, where they already heard Izzy's light swearing. This would be so much fun.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for leaving kudos & comments 💙


End file.
